RIVERSIDE COUNTY: Developer fee changes delayed

Riverside County supervisors on Tuesday put off their vote on a planned update of developer fees amid concerns over how much would be charged to cover the cost of new jail beds.

The fees, which date to 2001, are charged to developers in unincorporated parts of the county — cities have their own fees — to pay for infrastructure needed to support growth. Fees have been used for new parks, trails, fire stations and other public facilities.

The fees were last revised in 2006, and county officials think it’s time for an update to reflect new infrastructure needs. The changes brought to the Board of Supervisors would reduce the average fee for a single-family home from $4,651 to $4,318, making it the lowest in the region, officials said.

But building industry representatives had concerns, especially about the portion of the fee paying for more jail capacity.

The jail bed fee attached to a single-family home would go from $392 to $885. Thousands of jail inmates are turned loose early every year because of crowding, and building more jail space is a top county priority.

Bill Blankenship of the Building Industry Association of Riverside County and Tim Johnson of the California Apartment Association’s Inland chapter said the jail fee makes an unjustified correlation between housing and jail beds.

Most of the supervisors agreed with them. Supervisor Jeff Stone said it was unfair for new residents in unincorporated communities to shoulder the burden of new jail space.

The new fees also take commercial and industrial projects off the hook for paying for new parks and trails, something that drew an objection from Supervisor Kevin Jeffries.

Stone offered a compromise that would raise the jail fee, but only to $485. He also wants to phase in the new fees over two years instead of the 10-month timeline proposed by county staff.

The Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 to revisit the fees at the board’s July 29 meeting.